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Targeting Polycomb systems to regulate gene expression: modifications to a complex story

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology volume 16, pages 643–649 (2015)Cite this article

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Abstract

Polycomb group proteins are transcriptional repressors that are essential for normal gene regulation during development. Recent studies suggest that Polycomb repressive complexes (PRCs) recognize and are recruited to their genomic target sites through a range of different mechanisms, which involve transcription factors, CpG island elements and non-coding RNAs. Together with the realization that the interplay between PRC1 and PRC2 is more intricate than was previously appreciated, this has increased our understanding of the vertebrate Polycomb system at the molecular level.

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Figure 1: Getting Polycomb repressive complexes (PRCs) to chromatin.
Figure 2: Beyond simple recruitment to more complex interactions.
Figure 3: Polycomb systems and gene regulation.

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Acknowledgements

Work in the Klose laboratory is supported by the Wellcome Trust, the Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine and Exeter College, University of Oxford, UK. N.R.R. is supported by a Junior Research Fellowship at St John's College, University of Oxford. The authors would like to thank Dr Emilia Dimitrova and Dr Sarah Cooper for constructive comments on the manuscript.

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  1. Neil P. Blackledge and Nathan R. Rose: N.P.B. and N.R.R. contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nathan R. Rose and Robert J. Klose are at the Department of Biochemistry, Neil P. Blackledge, South Parks Road, University of Oxford, OX1 3QU.,

    Neil P. Blackledge, Nathan R. Rose & Robert J. Klose

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Blackledge, N., Rose, N. & Klose, R. Targeting Polycomb systems to regulate gene expression: modifications to a complex story. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 16, 643–649 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrm4067

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